Vanstone: Roughriders' Darian Durant provides much-needed hope

Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant is, in his doctors’ appraisal, one month ahead of schedule. Alas, the same is not applicable to his CFL team.

A month from now, a torturous regular season — which has one obligatory game remaining — will be but a bitter memory. The Grey Cup will be over. And maybe, just maybe, an unaccustomed cellar-dweller will be rolling out something that at least vaguely resembles a plan.

As it stands, the wheels are spinning and confusion reigns.

There is an interim general manager (Jeremy O’Day), an interim head coach (Bob Dyce) and an interminable regular season that is to finally, mercifully conclude Sunday against another non-playoff participant, the Montreal Alouettes.

Only in the aftermath of that road game will the goings-on in Riderville become a matter of fascination.

In the interim — “interim” being the organization’s buzzword of late — there is another week of practice, likely doused with rain and snow, and glazing of eyes.

Thankfully, there was a respite on Monday from the sheer horror of this lost season.

Durant met the media and provided an upbeat update on his recuperation from a ruptured left Achilles tendon, suffered near halftime of the Roughriders’ June 27 regular-season opener against the visiting Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

A team that is starved for positivism, and a fan base that is inured to the weekly on-field futility, desperately needed what Durant provided on Monday.

He offered hope, along with a welcome diversion from the endless, largely unavoidable, rehashing of what has gone so terribly wrong with this season.

The session began when Durant told a swarm of reporters that he is “ahead of schedule” and “feeling great.”

He expects to be training all-out by Jan. 1 — barely six months after being driven off the playing surface on a cart at a silent Mosaic Stadium.

When asked to address fears that he won’t be the same quarterback after suffering back-to-back season-ending injuries, the 33-year-old Durant declared: “I won’t be the same quarterback. I’ll be better.”

And that is saying something.

Durant, after all, is a high-ranking member of the Rider royalty. He has quarterbacked the team to three Grey Cup appearances — the most recent of which was a 45-23 victory over the visiting Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Nov. 24, 2013.

Saskatchewan proceeded to win eight of its first 10 regular-season games in 2014, fostering discussing about the possibility of the Roughriders repeating as champions for the first time since the franchise’s inception in 1910.

However, the eighth victory of 2014 was achieved at a considerable cost. Durant suffered a torn tendon in his right (throwing) elbow during the third quarter of a game in Winnipeg. The Riders held on to win, 30-24, but they might as well have rolled credits on the very same fateful day — Sept. 7, 2014.

After an intensive off-season training and recuperative regimen, Durant returned for the 2015 lidlifter and looked like, well, himself. He was 13-for-18 for 165 yards and two touchdowns, with nary an interception, before being hurt without being hit.

It was an improbably cruel fate, especially for such a class act, and the Roughriders hit the turf when he did. Again.

The numbers are staggering. Since 2013, the Roughriders have won 21 of 31 regular-season and playoff games with Durant in the starting lineup. In his absence, they have won five times in 21 games. And one of those victories was in 2013, with the able Drew Willy at the controls of the offence, before Durant suffered the first two serious injuries of his football career.

The numbers do not lie. Durant’s importance to the franchise, and to the psyche of the Rider Nation, has been underlined by the team’s travails in 2014 and 2015.

Durant emphasized Monday that the team is bigger than one player, but there is a correlation between his availability and the Green and White’s on-field respectability.

On seven occasions this season, the Roughriders have lost a game by four or fewer points. How much of a difference could he have made in those situations?

It is safe to say that the Roughriders wouldn’t be anywhere near 2-15 with Durant behind centre. Like Ron Lancaster and Kent Austin before him, Durant is irreplaceable.

Yes, the Roughriders’ alleged defence has not helped matters. But a player of Durant’s description would paint over some deficiencies while also providing the kind of leadership and statesmanship that has been so painfully lacking for the better — or worst — part of the past season and a half.

Monday morning was an exception. Durant patiently and persuasively addressed all inquiries, delivering a much-needed message at an opportune time.

“If I can stay healthy,” said Durant, inserting the necessary proviso, “I still feel like I’m the best quarterback in this league, and I’m out to prove that.”

After all that Durant has accomplished, and after all that he has meant to a team with which he has become synonymous, bet against him at your own peril.

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